Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. I | ✓

Chapter 23: Sisters

Stabbing Hezekiah and rendering him unconscious was the easy part, believe it or not. The hard part lied in what to do with him next.

Jonathan and Miss Aza hauled Hezekiah up and carried him to the exit of the attic. I helped, too; Hezekiah was heavier than I thought. His skin was cold and lifeless.

"We got to get him to the basement," Aza told us, sure of herself. So, we opened the door and gently walked down the stairs with a vampire around our arms. Kizzy, Esther, and Rocio were behind and in front, acting as the look-out, but their effort was quickly shot down when we saw someone coming down the hall. We stood completely still as Imani turned the corner, her eyes narrowed as if she was awakened suddenly. Hezekiah's collapse must have been louder than we anticipated.

It was foolish of us to assume that stilling ourselves would make us invisible; Imani's eyes widened when she saw us and who we were carrying. Then her mouth opened to let out a scream, but I rushed forward and stopped her lament with my hand.

"Hush up!" I held her against me. "You'll wake up the Priestesses!"

Imani was as stiff as a board, horrified as she watched Jonathan and Aza continue to carry Hezekiah down the hall with considerable effort. Eventually, the girls had to help to relieve the strain of the vampire's stone-heavy weight. My job was to keep Imani quiet, which was easier said than done.

When they made it to the staircase leading to the first floor, I took my hand off of Imani's mouth. Sweat-saturated brows furrowed at me, but she didn't make a noise.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking at me as if I was unfamiliar. A stranger.

"It's a long story," I said. "I promise to explain it to you later, but you've gotta keep quiet."

I could tell that Imani was conflicted, being Mama's novitiate and curious about what an Elder vampire was doing in the house, unconscious. I hated putting her in the position to compromise her loyalty.

Imani nodded once, and I thanked her by gripping her hand. But she demanded to follow me wherever I was going, and I would be a fool to say no. Slowly, we crept through the hall, down the stairs, and to the wooden door that led to the basement. I heard muffled speech on the other side - speech that belonged to Aza and Jonathan.

Imani was reluctant to follow, most likely remembering what she and I saw in the forest - when Abraham ravaged Tia's House to pieces. It was safe for me to assume that when Imani saw Hezekiah, she saw him killing Tia Valeria. Somehow, I couldn't see the same thing. I felt inhuman, not feeling the same way Imani felt.

I opened the basement door and walked carefully down the darkened staircase. The sounds were growing louder, the smell growing stronger - iron. Sweat. Something else I couldn't pinpoint.

Imani refused to take my hand to guide her, even though her long nightgown was dragging behind her. She was upset at me, I was certain - for many things, really. But this situation was at the top of her list.

When we reached the bottom of the staircase, I followed the dim lights until we met with Aza and everyone else. For a moment, I had to wipe my glasses to make sure that what I was seeing was accurate. It could have been possible that I was dreaming, but it looked so real - the silver chains, the coffins, the metal spikes wedged into the walls. It was clear that Hezekiah wasn't the first vampire to be brought down into the basement.

"What is this?" Imani whispered, horrified. Even Kizzy, Esther, and Rocio were in shock at what they were seeing. It was a legitimate Vampire lair or torture chamber we were in, nestled underneath us for weeks and we didn't even know. Aza's face was indication enough that she didn't care to explain to us what we wanted to know.